Hamilton on pole for first race
Lewis Hamilton will start today's first Formula Three Euroseries race at Hockenheim on pole after the 2005 Champion topped the timesheets in a thrilling qualifying session this morning
Heavy showers left the circuit greasy throughout the session, and as a faint dry line appeared, the times improved in a final flurry of activity.
Hamilton spent much of the session on the fringes of the top 10, but he closed in on early pacesetters Franck Perera and Lucas di Grassi, before nailing the first lap under one minute and fifty seconds, with five minutes remaining.
The ASM driver went on to improve this benchmark further, to 1:49.698, and he had almost six tenths of a second in hand as the chequered flag fell.
Di Grassi emerged on top of a frantic scrap between several drivers for second. The Brazilian even set the fastest first sector of all on his final lap, but he dropped time to Hamilton in the second sector and then spun his Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes entering the stadium section.
Maximillian Gotz spun twice but recovered to claim third, ahead of Guillaume Moreau's Signature car (top Opel again) and Perera. Paul di Resta was another to spin but he still ended the session in sixth, ahead of Sebastian Vettel.
British F3 Scholarship class race winner Ben Clucas will start his first F3 Euroseries race in eighth, but his best time - good enough for sixth - was disallowed for being set while a yellow flag was being waved, after Giedo van der Garde's spun car in the stadium.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Lewis Hamilton ASM F3 1:49.698 13 2. Lucas di Grassi Manor Motorsport 1:50.154 + 0.456 14 3. Maximilian Gotz ASM F3 1:50.179 + 0.481 15 4. Guillaume Moreau Signature 1:50.377 + 0.679 15 5. Franck Perera Prema Powerteam 1:50.414 + 0.716 14 6. Paul di Resta Manor Motorsport 1:50.644 + 0.946 13 7. Sebastian Vettel ASL Mucke Motorsport 1:50.819 + 1.121 14 8. Ben Clucas Team Midland Euroseries 1:51.032 + 1.334 14 9. Greg Franchi Prema Powerteam 1:51.122 + 1.424 14 10. Fabio Carbone Signature 1:51.266 + 1.568 15 11. Kohei Hirate Team Rosberg 1:51.334 + 1.636 15 12. G. van der Garde Team Rosberg 1:51.389 + 1.691 11 13. Marco Bonanomi Prema Powerteam 1:51.414 + 1.716 15 14. Loic Duval Signature-Plus 1:51.520 + 1.822 15 15. James Rossiter Signature-Plus 1:51.524 + 1.826 14 16. Atila Abreu ASL Mucke Motorsport 1:51.610 + 1.912 13 17. Alejandro Nunez HBR Motorsport 1:51.626 + 1.928 16 18. Esteban Guerrieri Team Midland Euroseries 1:52.149 + 2.451 13 19. Hannes Neuhauser HBR Motorsport 1:52.194 + 2.496 12 20. Thomas Holzer AM-Holzer Rennsport 1:52.485 + 2.787 15 21. Filip Salaquarda Team I.S.R. 1:53.555 + 3.857 13
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